An option that can be exercised, at the holder’s choice, at any time until the option expires.

Analysis

The study and analysis of historic price data to anticipate future movements in the price of an instrument

Appreciation

An increase in the value of an instrument.

Ask price

The price at which you can buy the specified instrument. This is also called the Offer price. For Forex trading, it is the price at which you can buy the trade/base currency (quoted first) by selling the price currency of the pair. For example, if you buy EURUSD 100,000, you are buying Euro 100,000 against US dollars.

Asset

In Options trading, a common term for the underlying asset. This is the financial instrument upon which Options, a derivative product, are based. For example, the underlying asset for IBM stock Options is the IBM stock itself.

Assignment

The obligation incumbent on an option seller to fulfill his contractual requirements (purchase or sale of underlying instrument), in response to a buyer’s decision to exercise an option.

At The Money (ATM)

An option is at the money when the value of the underlying instrument is the same or almost the same as the strike price of the option contract.

At The Money (ATM) forward strike

The ATM forward strike price of an Option is the strike price of the corresponding forward outright price at a specific forward date, as calculated via interest rate differentials.

Auto-execution

The maximum amount of the instrument that can be automatically traded before manual confirmation from a dealer ('Live price') is required. In periods of volatile market conditions, automatic trade execution may be disabled.

Available for margin trading

The funds available for margin trading, derived from subtracting Used for margin requirements from Account Value.